


It's all in the past

by fumomoshi



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fumomoshi/pseuds/fumomoshi
Summary: AU where Sui divorced and remarried to Karu. They both have a son; Sui with Rudo and Karu with Rako. Karu is a teacher in this AU. Sui is a househusband. Ron runs/works at a childcare where Sui and Karu drop their sons off in the day so that they can mingle with others kids





	It's all in the past

Sui sits silently at the corner of the childcare, a hand wrapping around a cup of half-empty warm green tea. He faces towards the other side of the room, where the children are playing, laughing and screaming all over the place.

All except one.

Sui grimaces at the sight of his son, Rudo, quietly sitting at the other corner of the room. He can’t see what he’s doing, but he has no doubt that he’s tinkering with toys again. Sui sighs. He’s worried, worried about the fact that his son is not interacting with the other kids, worried that his son is too...quiet. He wonders if it’s his fault. Sui isn’t a very outspoken person himself. He can’t help but think that the times Rudo had been yelping and laughing were the times when he was playing with his wife.  _ Ex-wife,  _ he corrects himself.  _ Maybe he’s better off with her.  _ Sui shakes his head. A child needs someone to be around to raise, not someone who’s only home - what - once a week? Sometimes even once a month? She was always working and seems to have family prioritized last. 

_ That’s all in the past. That’s all in the past.  _ Sui repeats the mantra. He feels guilty. Within half a year after his divorce, he had already remarried, but he cannot stop himself from thinking about the past. He had asked friends and read self-help books, but nothing seems to work. He fears that he cannot find happiness for Rudo, or worse, that Rudo is not happy with his new family. He can’t tell; Rudo rarely speaks to him. Well, he does, but only when necessary it seems. 

“What’s with that face?” A voice asks from behind. It is Ron, one of the caretakers of the place. He places another cup of tea in front of Sui, despite Sui’s protests that he doesn’t need to. "Is your husband Karu coming soon?"

_ Husband.  _ Sui flinches at the term. He’s still not used to it. Having spending most of his last couple of years as the ‘husband', calling his partner as such feels like there is an implication that he is the ‘wife'.  _ Although, considering me, I might as well be one.  _ Sui heaves a sigh. 

"O-oi! Are you okay?" Ron asks. 

Sui replies with an unconvincing nod. He waves Ron’s concern away, and changes the topic. "How’s my children?" He asks. 

Ron looks over to the children. He gives a tired shrug and a little smile. “Rako’s up to no good all day as usual. You know, rallying the kids against me, scheming something and talking about his plans. He never seems to run out of energy and ideas.” 

_ Rako.  _ Rako is Karu’s son before they married. Like his father, he’s energetic and always doing something until he falls asleep. Sui isn’t too worried about Rako - he’s more worried about his interaction and influence on others - although it’s more of playful charm than a nuisance. “Don’t the other kids get bothered?”

“Well, they are mostly okay with him, and he’s smart enough to know when to stop.” Ron sighs and slumps onto the seat opposite of Sui’s. “Stopping him is tiring though.”

Sui chuckles. “Well, he’s Karu’s son after all.” He takes a sip of tea before continuing, his voice lowering to that of concern. “What about Rudo?”

Ron shrugs. “He’s well-behaved.”

_ That’s it?  _ “A-anything else?” Sui asks. “Like, did he make any friends? Or did he talk to anyone? Was he participating in activities? Is he getting along with anyone?”

“He interacts when he needs to,” Ron says. “A good boy in general. He’s easily irritable though, so I usually leave him doing what he wants.”

Sui frowns. He already knows that, and that’s what he’s afraid of. He wants Rudo to be happier and smiling, like he was when he’s around his mother.  _ Ex-mother.  _ He was hoping that by remarrying, especially to someone like Karu, he will become happier with all the energy around there house. Instead, he became more secluded and quieter, despite all attempts. 

“Are you worried?” Ron asks.

Sui snaps out of this train of thought. “Worried? What makes you say that?”

“Your face,” Ron replies. “Whenever I bring up Rudo, your face darkens. Just a little! Not a lot, I mean.”

_ Well… _ Sui turns away to look at Rudo.

“I won’t be so worried. Rudo’s a really smart kid, probably one of the smartest kids that ever registered here. He just needs more time, I think.” Ron takes out a Lego toy; a car the size of his palm. Not just any car. Sui thinks he had seen that car somewhere before. 

“He made this today,” Ron says, placing the car onto the table, giving a small push so that it slides towards Sui. Sui picks it up. On closer inspection, he realizes that it’s rather well made, and even has some details on the inside of the car. “He says that, er, it’s a Toyota-” Ron frowns. “-something. Or was it Mitsubishi? It’s one of those cars you see quite often on the streets now.”

“All this time, I didn’t want to buy Lego because I was afraid the children would try to eat them.” Sui mutters.  

“Sui, they are six.” Ron gives a chuckle. “They don’t put stuff in their mouths anymore.”

Suddenly the door opens wide, as if saving Sui from embarrassment. “I’m here!!” booms a voice that’s undeniably Karu’s. “Who wants sweets!”

“You bought sweets?” Sui and Ron asks and raises their eyebrows in unison.

“Of course! Children must be rewarded for their hard work!” Karu says as he takes out a box of candy. 

“Sweets!” echoes the children, getting up and rushing towards Karu, some of them screaming in excitement. 

“Whoa! Slowly! First one to reach here without running gets it first!” Karu laughs. The children slows down obediently, and Karu starts handing the sweets out (starting with Rako, of course).

Ron turns to Sui. “Your husband’s really good with children.”

Sui shrugs. “He’s a primary school teacher so, I guess he needs to be.”

The children disperses shortly after they received their candy. Rako somehow ends up with a handful of extras, and is devising some kind of game for the kids to win them. Sui looks back to the table, and to his surprise, there are now two cars on the table.

“Whoa, Rudo. How long have you been here?” Ron exclaims. 

Sure enough, Rudo stands beside Sui, silent as usual. Sui strokes his head and points at the cars. “Did you make these?” he asks. 

Rudo nods. 

“They are really well made. You even added the insides of the car.” Sui comments. 

Karu walks to them and lowers himself to Rudo’s height. He picks up one of the car. “Ooh. Is this a Mazda 3? 6?”

Rudo’s eyes brighten as he turns to Karu. “6!”

“Ahaha!” Karu laughs. “Were you looking at our car catalog at home? I was wondering where it went sometimes!” 

Rudo’s face went red. 

Karu puts his arms around Rudo’s small shoulders and whispers loudly. “Rucchan, do you want Lego?”

“Are you going to buy?” Sui interrupts. 

“I don’t see why not,” Karu smiles. “He’s already six.”  

Sui is still worried. Lego is a wonderful product, of course, but it can be messy and hazardous in the worst case. And what if Rudo loses interest in the long run? Is it really worth buying? He turns to Rudo, who is giving him the brightest shine on his eyes as he awaits the response. He hasn’t seen that kind of look on Rudo since his divorce. 

“Fine,” Sui gives in. “Just be sure to keep it after you play with it.”

“Yay!” Rudo smiles and jumps to hug Sui. 

Sui hugs back tightly. A tear rolls down his cheek. He had been waiting for this day, this look on Rudo, for a long time. 

_ A really long time. _

“Ahaha, daddy’s weak to Rucchan!” Karu laughs heartily.


End file.
